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Wednesday, June 06, 2012

I've been ordered by the Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Amelia Tee Hong Geok Abdullah to pay RM200,000 damages to Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (SYABAS) for demafing the latter.

I'll make available the 49-page judgement later, but I was found to have defamed SYABAS for the following impugned words in a Chinese article published in Nanyang Siangpau in November 2009.

"Tony Pua said... the Selangor State Government will aggressively launch a signature campaign to return water rights to the people of Selangor... He said, after the breakdown of negotiations for the Selangor state government's plan to take over the 4 concessionaires, [the Selangor state government] launched the signature campaign to return water rights to the people, to ensure the water tariff in the state of Selangor will not be increased by 37%.

... He said, if the water concessionaires have insufficient funds to repay its loan, it should return the water rights to the state government; if the water concessionaires are unable to replace water pipes, it should give up or exit the water business..."

The bold text above are deemed to have defamed Syabas.

I would maintain that the above statement is not defamatory, and will instruct my lawyers to file an appeal in the Court of Appeal.

It's the Court decision to decide whether its defaming or not & "NOT" you. After all in most cases, petty thieves would usually claim the thing they had stole wasn't stolen but instead they would claim they don't know how it landed in their bag & so on. They are a million of reasons/excuses one could say but in the end, it would be the judge who will have the FINAL say.

Bottom line is that the Court found ya statement defaming & it's good if you just accept it with due respect. I know it HURTS to notice a large chunk of ya money gone but everything has a price to pay. Perhaps after this incident, you would be much wiser before opening your mouth at free will. Talking is nice & more so capturing public attention is even nicer but becos' of your ignorance & foolishness, you're now landing yaself in the BAD SIDE of public eyes.

Think before you speak in future & it's pointless to argue whether you think ya statement is defaming or not. The Court had made its decision & so, please, please, please "RESPECT" it.

If you cannot respect the Court, then, how can 'the rakyat' respect you, right?

we all know who is right and who is wrong. we can see very clearly. be tough and we appreciate your effort and will always behind the truth,thank you even i am not from selangor,YB Tony Pua. i hope you can be my MP.

Laws are based on published Acts and referred in a court of law to pass judgement BASED ON THE INTEPRETATION of the Act by the judge.

The judge is human and can be factualy correct or err in his or her intepretation of the Act. There will alway be those who agrees or disagrees.

The best way to look at it is by reviewing the facts. The facts are SYABAS has a responsibility to the public. If they do their job, great. If not, then its up to those who stand up to defend the public with facts.

I find it strange that the comment like the one published is found defamatory. After all, there are far worse comments by other politicians that seem to slide by. Indeed, the statement may be fair comment. Best to send the matter to the Court of Appeal.

By the same analogy, imagine how often the opposition in Selangor - BN - says things like "If Pakatan is inexperienced to govern the state, it should return it to BN. If the politicians are unable to accept corruption like we do, they should give up or exit politics! " Those must be defamatory as well!

So Ong, if you are unable to accept a differing view, keep your mouth shut! Before you ask Tony to respect others, please show decency to respect Tony that he has the right to defend himself.

If Tony is really guilty he would pay, even if Tony cannot pay we Rakyat who believe in freedom, fairness and corruption free would not mind helping to donate and pay. The question of guilty as per this judge is based on her feeling and decision of which I believe its bias. If you are one of the cyber trooper of BN please wait for 13GE then we would show you how Rakyat of Malaysia feel for the present govt. We shall make sure the jail are full of them.

Court judgement is also open to scrutiny. When a eyebrow-raising judgement is made, people are dumbfounded. When the same judge made other similar judgements, thing is no longer simple.

If i am not mistaken, the same one was involved in a RM500k award against a journalist, nadeswaran. Anybody have the written judgement? Does anybody knows other cases?

I think in any country with respectable law implementation, such judgements should be properly investigated. Alas, what can we hope for in msia?

All over the world, there are countless cases of judge's incompetency, bribery and whatnot. For public servant at such standing, there is no room for incompetency, criminal or highly disputable behavior.

Justice or injustice? Time and time again we have seen judgements which defy logic. I am not a lawyer so I can't comment whether it is consistent with the law, but certainly we have seen good people with good intention from outside the government being singled out. The right thing to do is to appeal, if failed, I am sure a RM2.00 campaign will be another uniting campaign we will support.

We will support you financially! Some of the previous comments on this page are from idiotic cyber trooper who would sell their own mother to make a buck. Just ignore them. The rakyat knows the sacrifices made by you for this country. Please fight on. This will show Malaysian how badly we need to change the government to clean up our judiciary. Keep up the good fight!

What can we expect when the Malaysian Justice is standing on its head?Go ahead and Appeal and I hope the DAP and Pakatan partners will highlight the matter so that we can contribute towards the.For me, I don't want you to pay one sen. We will come together and pay the entire 200,000 since you spoke for us.

Even when Tony appeal to the Federal Court, the PM & AG will just give instruction to those judges to make it a guilty case lah. For political, govt and GLC cases against any defendants,, MANA ADA JUDICIARY INDEPENDENCE SINCE 1988 LAH...

I am not a lawyer...to me the said statement is only a statement or at worse a challenge to SYABAS. The only way it can be considered as defamation is if SYABAS can prove otherwise..so far..emm...let the RAKYAT decide.

Dear Tony Pua, this is another reason for the right thinking public to support you and the causes you have highlighted. Should you ever have to make any payment, your supporters will raise the necessary funds. And once the written judgment is out, it should be posted online for the world to see what existing Malaysian justice is like. Let this be an opportunity for the world to judge our Judges!

A lesson from Judge Judy,A lawsuit of defamation can only be established if the malice statement is made publicly and have financial and or emotional impact to the plaintiff. Since the Plaintiff in this case is SYABAS, an impersonal corporation, they could only claim losses made by Pua's statement.

Although there are fundamental differences in US and Malaysian laws. Ad hansard, the idea behind it is the same. Ergo, not to be disrespectful, but our judges in Malaysia should also "stop and exit the judiciary branch".

Tony, you have my full support, will put my money where my mouth is and donate to your cause. M'sian judges are often nothing more than mere puppets of the ruling government anyway and any fool can see that to date, not a single BIG FISH from UMNO has been fried yet in the so-called halls of justice! What do u expect from a ruling coalition led by porn stars, debauchers and pirates!

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About Me

I was elected in March 2008, the Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara under the Democratic Action Party (DAP). I'm also the DAP National Publicity Secretary, as well as the investment liaison officer for the Penang Chief Minister based in the Klang Valley.

Before joining politics full-time in January 2007, I was the CEO and founder of a Malaysian IT company, publicly listed in Singapore. I divested all my shares in the company to be able to serve the community and take part in socio-political affairs of Malaysia.

I've always had faith that there has been a guardian angel looking after me all these while - my personal well-being, my education, my career. Some will call it "God's will", some "fate" while some others, "destiny". I strongly believe that it is time for me to repay the kindness and fortune showered on me by my family, the society and of course, not forgetting, my guardian angel. :-)